About Us

Our History

The Arrival of the Finnish Missionaries in Singapore
The roots of Zion Full Gospel Church (ZFGC) reach back to September 1949 when the first Finnish missionaries, having had to leave China, arrived on the shores of Singapore. Some of them continued their journey to Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, whereas Sisters Nilja Nikkanen and Aira Kolkka stayed in Singapore to become the first Finnish Missionaries in this city. The Lord answered their prayers for leading them to find ways and means to share the Gospel with Singaporeans.

The Mode of Witnessing of the Finnish Missionaries
The Lord impressed upon their hearts to go to the streets, and street corners to proclaim the Good News and so they did. As the sisters stood at the street corners and played their guitars and sang in Mandarin (which in those days was not a common language at all), people gathered to listen to them and wondering who and where these people hailed from. By and by, some local Christians and church leaders began approaching them and advised and helped them to get some permanent work started.

In the beginnings they met in different parts of Singapore, especially in homes. One of the earlier meeting places was at the basement of an attap house along Grange Road.

Later on they moved to the Indus Square Alexandra area.

The Emergence of Lay Workers
The Lord then moved the hearts of the local people and soon they rented a small wooden shop house in that area, which became a lighthouse in spiritual darkness. In that area, they met with some Chinese Christian families. Those faithful believers later became great contributors in sharing the Gospel. The families of Rev & Mrs William, and Rachel Lee, were the first ones to help these foreign ladies.

Soon the sisters received more helpers from Finland when Sis Mirjam Paukku, Bro & Mrs Elias & Rachel Kossila and Sis Mirjami Rasi arrived by the end of 1959. As the number of missionaries increased, new areas were reached with the Gospel. Sis Aira Kolkka and Sis Mirjami Rasi moved to the Sembawang area. The Lord impressed Sis Rasi's heart to reach those thousands of Tamils living in that area, whereas Sis Kolkka was engaged in reaching the Chinese population. Thus, 'The Praise Evangelical Church' got started.

Our First Full-Time Worker
Sis Nikkanen with some local sisters continued upholding the witness for Jesus and the Lord honoured their labour of love and blessed their work. Then the Lord sent to them Bro Ong Hun Siang who being a teacher by training gave his spare time and talents for the reaching the people in that area of city. Soon he gave up his regular occupation to be fully engaged in the Lord's service.

Our First Church Premises at Tiverton Lane
On or about 1965, ZFGC, then known as Zion Centre, moved to a building of their own at 24, Tiverton Lane, Tanglin. At about the same time, in conjunction with the move, Bro Joel Ikonen from Finland arrived to add to the work force. This building was a product of financial contribution of Finnish Christians living outside Finland, especially in the USA, Australia, Sweden and of course, people living in Finland too. Sisters Hilja Nikkanen & Mirjam Paukku, Ps Joel Ikonen and Rev Ong Hun Siang (the first local full-time pastor of ZFGC) worked together in building up the church in the late sixties.

The Church at Queensway Shopping Centre
In the year 1971, the church moved to Queensway Shopping Centre, having acquired two units of office space at level 3. In those days, Queensway Shopping Centre was one of the more happening places in the neighbourhood. It was well-known for sports accessories and a haven for jeans.More importantly, it was a fertile ground to reach out to non-believers. The church grew from strength to strength at Queensway under the dynamic leadership of Pastor Joseph Ong (who took over from the late Rev Ong Hun Siang). At its height, its congregation surpassed 200 worshippers. It was during this season that the leaders and members laboured long and hard to raise funds for a new building to house the growing church. The adults collected old newspapers, magazines and clothes day and night. The Sunday School children put in their fair share too by selling 'kilometrico' pens to raise funds.

The Move to Our Present Premises at 44, Hoot Kiam Road
By the grace of God, and the labour of love by the leaders and members, in 1980, the church moved to its present premises at 44, Hoot Kiam Road. It is a two-and-a half-storey freehold property sitting on 10,000 square feet of prime land in the prestigious District 10. Following the move, ZFGC was formally and legally registered as Zion Full Gospel Church. It was extremely remarkable that the current property was purchased and paid in full without having to dispose the office premises at Queensway Shopping Centre.

The Coffee House Ministry at Queensway Shopping Centre
Since the premises at Queensway Shopping Centre was then still owned by ZFGC, in the years between 1985 to 1988, ZFGC ran a Coffee House Ministry every Saturday Night to reach out to non-believers who were either invited by our members or were wanderers in the shopping centre.Besides serving 'Suzuki' Coffee, the leadership arranged for live concerts every Saturday Night to entertain the visitors. Guest performers include well-known local Gospel artistes, and our very own home grown talents who are still worshipping in our church today! After the concert, the Gospel was then shared by counsellors deployed to the various tables.Praise the Lord for the souls reaped over the years from the Coffee House Ministry!

In the late 1980s and 1990s
On or about the late 1980s, Rev Charles Tan took over the pastoring of ZFGC from Pastor Joseph Ong. Pastor Tan was no stranger to the folks at Zion. Prior to being Senior Pastor, Pastor Tan often came to minister to us as a Bible Teacher. He is fondly remembered for single-handedly teaching courses such as Walkthough of the Old Testament, Walkthrough of the New Testament and Seven Laws for The Teacher. Pastor Tan must also be credited for being the pioneer advocate of the witnessing tool "Evangelistic Explosion", affably known as EE. In recent years, the youths in our church have interestingly been equipped with EE for street witnessing.

Facelift and Upgrading at 44 Hoot Kiam Road
Due to wear and tear, in 1998, the church embarked on an ambitious major building project to restore the church premises through an 'Alteration and Addition' (commonly known as A&A) with funds from the sale of the premises at Queensway. The church was very blessed to be able to sell the premises at the height of property prices in Singapore. The sale price was more than sufficient to cover the A&A with enough to spare for the subsequent years of annual maintenance.

The restoration was completed in March 1999 and we now enjoy spanking new facilities to worship and serve God in a more conducive environment. Praise the Lord! Indeed, one marvels at just how good the Lord has been to ZFGC all these years!

In its state of glory, after serving as a Senior Pastor of ZFGC for some fifteen years, Pastor Charles Tan decided to return to his former church to fill the vacancy of the Senior Pastor in 2000.

ZFGC enters into the New Millennium
Rev Randy Sing assumed the appointment as Senior Pastor in 2000 and led the church into the new millennium. Under Pastor Randy (as he is often known), ZFGC was transformed to a missions focused church. With Pastor Randy’s burden for missions, two ZFGC outposts were added. The local outpost was a branch church at a rented shophouse at Bukit Panjang along Upper Bukit Timah Road and the overseas outpost was in the Malaysian town at Kluang. Services at both outposts were on Sundays in the evenings. During Pastor Randy’s tenure, with the assistance of Pastor Yang Feng Yuan (then pastor of the Mandarin speaking congregation), ZFGC also had a weekly ministry to the construction workers from mainland China on Sunday evenings. Dinner was prepared and served by our members and these services were very well attended averaging at about a hundred each time. Though Pastor Randy had pastored the church for only a brief period from 2000 to 2003, looking back, Pastor Randy had meaningfully deposited in ZFGC the first seeds of a missions-focused church, and effectively challenged the church to be outward-looking, bigger-hearted and practise more giving for God’s work.

The Incoming of Rev Alfred Yeo as Senior Pastor, ZFGC
As the post of the Senior Pastor was then vacant, the Elders approached the Assemblies of God (AG) of Singapore for assistance. The AG kindly agreed to release Rev Alfred Yeo to serve as ZFGC's Interim Pastor for five months from July to November 2003, while the leadership waited for the confirmation of the new senior pastor. Rev Yeo was then the full-time Executive Director of the AG Singapore.

Thereafter, in lieu of Rev Alfred Yeo, Rev Peter Chng assumed the role of Interim Pastor of ZFGC from November 2003 to February 2004.

As the post of the Senior Pastor remained vacant with the departure of Rev Chng, Rev Alfred Yeo was then invited back to assist. This time round, Rev Alfred Yeo assumed the post of the Senior Pastor in April 2004, albeit, on a part time basis. In January 2005, Pastor Yeo assumed the full time pastorate till this day.

ZFGC becomes a part of the Assemblies of God, Singapore
In July 2004, the leadership having obtained the support of the congregation, ZFGC then became the 49th church to be part of the Assemblies of God (AG) movement in Singapore. Nothwithstanding the new affiliation to AG Singapore, ZFGC is always mindful of its birth through the sterling commitment and sacrifices of the Finnish Missionaries and our early ties with the Pentecostal Evangelical Mission (PEM) in Singapore.

The Inception of the Hokkien Congregation
In January 2005, we were very blessed with the inception of Pastor Joyce Kwek and the dynamic Hokkien Congregation to be part of ZFGC. With this new congregation, the church has since run three weekly Worship Services i.e. for the English speaking, Mandarin speaking and Hokkien speaking.

Celebrated 25 years of Legal Registration Status of ZFGC in 2005
On Saturday, 15 June 2005, ZFGC celebrated 25 years of God's faithfulness since ZFGC’s legal registration in Singapore with a Gala Dinner at the Holiday Inn Atrium. Incidentally, 15 June was the date of ZFGC's legal registration in 1980. In attendance were 350 members, guests and well-wishers to join the grateful hearts of the folks of Zion.

Under the stewardship of Rev Alfred Yeo, Senior Pastor
Under the leadership of Pastor Alfred Yeo and Pastor Joyce Yeo-Kwek, by the grace of God, the church grew from strength to strength, in numbers and in faith. At its peak, the congregation size (including the Sunday School population) was about 350. The transformation was not only confined to the adults, for the ministry to the children, Pastor Alfred Yeo was instrumental in introducing the Royal Rangers curriculum to our Kids' Ministry which continues till today. In view of the critical spiritual development of our youths in Zion, Pastor Alfred Yeo personally supervises the Youth Ministry, also known as the Detonate, with the help of the Youth Committee and the Young Adults’ Ministry. In 2008, the gradual growth propelled the leadership to move the English Congregation to Golden Village Hall No. 5 at Great World City to hold its weekly Sunday Services in a larger auditorium. However, due to its lack of ancillary facilities to hold programmes for the children, adult Christian Education classes and other meetings, a decision was taken to return to worship at the sanctuary in church. If expansion is required, the plan is to increase the number of services instead. Under the guidance of Pastor Alfred Yeo, the Missions Committee in ZFGC has been very committed in planning and executing a comprehensive annual effort in giving and going for missions to destinations including Batam, Cebu, Myanmar, Cambodia and China. In 2014, ZFGC celebrated its 65 years of founding by the Finnish Missionaries since 1949. The anniversary celebrations culminated with a gala dinner at the Raffles Town Club celebrating God’s unending goodness and renewing our total commitment to Him. After pastoring ZFGC for more than 13 years, Rev Alfred Yeo was called home to be with the Lord on 18 Jun 2016. Click here to read the full Tribute to Rev Alfred Yeo.

Current Developments
Pastor Jason Tan assumed the appointment as Pastor of the English speaking congregation wef 1 Jan 2017. Pastor Joyce Yeo continues to helm the Mandarin and Hokkien speaking congregations. As ZFGC entered into a new chapter, building on the vision that Rev Alfred Yeo had for the church, the congregation gained fresh momentum and stepped-up efforts to reach out to the unchurched through a slew of outreach initiatives including: (i) street witnessing at Orchard Road in Q1 2017; (ii) Mass Memorial Service for Family Members on Sun, 9 Apr 2017; (iii) Zion Carnival on Sun, 16 Jul 2017; (iv) Fresh Launch of Life Groups on Sun, 29 Jul 2017; and more to come. At the Water Baptism Service on Sun, 23 Jul 2017, we celebrated the water baptism of 8 of our dear brothers and sisters! The church is grateful to Pastor Joyce and Pastor Jason for the sacrificial leadership. We continue to pray and work anticipating the great harvest of souls for God's Kingdom!

Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty.

Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

Updated by Boon Heng and adapted from the writings of Rev Joel Ikonen and Rev Alfred Yeo

Our Heritage

This video showcases the heritage and history of Zion as we celebrate God's faithfulness for the past 65 years.